Rembrant

So, this old relic showed up at the junkyard! I check every couple weeks, and there are NEVER any Bullnoses there. I'd say by the look of her that she had a rough trip to the junkyard...lol. Frame is rusted and broken in a couple different places. Nice drivers side armrest attachments... And a Hi Output heater...something I've never seen before in the flesh. Truck is an '83 2wd, and is mostly intact. 300/6 with a C6 and 3.50 gears. I was initially interested in the interior parts...this old girl has (had) a headliner and all the plastic trim that goes with it. Not sure if it's all worth the trouble to remove though....anybody know if all of that trim will attach in a plain cab like mine? Another interesting note...I noticed this '83 truck has a 5 digit odometer, and my '84 has a 6 digit odometer. I thought that they were always 6 in Canada, but I guess not. In any case, I grabbed the black weave bezels, horn pad and steering column trim pieces. Also grabbed the radio mounting plate and the washer/coolant reservoir and bracket. Not much else there for me unfortunately.

Great story Randy, and welcome aboard! The colors on that 1980 Flareside were gorgeous! Very similar story for myself. I had a 1980 Flareside years ago and sold it in 1994 or 1995. For 20 years it was always in the back of my mind, and a couple years ago I picked up another Flareside, this time a 1984.

I remember hearing about these 5.7 diesels. Aren't they kind of a bad memory?>..lol. I've never actually seen one, but I did see a truck that had a 5.7 diesel but had already had a gas engine swapped in it. 30 years ago (as a young lad) I was pumping gas at a small station, and one of the bigger GM cars came in...I can't remember what it was, but I'm thinking something like a big late 70's Delta 88? Anyway, I'm filling this thing up with gas and have a good 5 gallons in it when I happened to notice the diesel badge on the trunk lid...lol. I initially freaked out, but the owner assured me that the car had had a gas engine swapped into it. Those early 5.7 diesels were rare where I lived growing up. By the time the 6.2 diesel came out in the trucks, they were everywhere. The smaller diesels were a little more common...like the S-10 and Chevette, or the Ranger and Escort. They were all short lived, but I knew people that had all of them. The little diesel Rangers still pop up for sale every now and then.

The iPhone shows them well. They're a bit grungy around the edges up close, but they'll look good on the Interstate! I already have a brand new set, so these ones needed a home anyway. I would likely have thrown them out, so I'm glad they'll get some use, even if it's just for one trip;).

These old mirrors needed a place to go, and I'm happy to see them spend some time on I-40 for Bullnose MPG testing! They might decrease drag, but they'll also decrease your rear view...lol. I just cleaned them up. They're not perfect, but they'll look just fine at 60mph.

Let there be engine warmth! I still run a block heater on my diesel Volkswagens. ...well, we still call them block heaters, but many of the ones for Volkswagens are external, and are therefore just coolant heaters! Anyway...if I plug mine in all night when it's cold...which for me is about 10F-15F, my coolant temp in the morning will be around 150F-160F. It will actually get quite hot near the heater...like 195F, but it cools as it gets further away from it. I'd say after 30 seconds of running and everything stabilizes, the coolant temp will be right around 155F.

I did a quick Google search, and it looks like that Gear Vendors OD is worth half as much as the asking price of the truck.

The Buy It Now price on this thing seems pretty reasonable, assuming the truck has spent all of (or some of) it's life in Arizona. Not sure what that Gear Vendors OD is worth, but as Gary always says, you couldn't build the truck for that price. Has an interesting custom dash, but that would be easy to return to stock if somebody wanted an original look. https://www.ebay.com/itm/153620455894

Gentlemen, I am looking for a set of these front swaybar brackets in case you have any collecting dust or in a junk pile somewhere. They are unobtainable up here in the land of rust.

Starting to look like a truck again Dave!

Ok, that's what I thought. I'll send you my old ones if you want to try them out. No charge to you...I'll be getting rid of them anyway. Shoot me an email if interested. If not, no big deal.

Do you mean the little Type-5 mirrors?

Ahh yes, I forgot about the very early 1985 5.0 trucks still having carbs. When you mention above about the EFI change, you mean November 1984, right? I thought that upper trim was a late 1985 model year and early 1986 model year thing? I scrapped an '85 last year that was a 5.0 EFI truck that also had this trim, and it had a build date of February 1985. I think it was Vinny that mentioned a while back that the 5.0 EFI change happened very early in the 1985 calendar year...or about half way through the 1985 model year production. He said most 5.0 trucks built after January 1985 were EFI.

That's a nice truck. Appears to be a 302, so we can assume EFI unless it has been carb swapped already.

And sold!

$40,000 Bullnoses are for cheapskates! Somebody just "One-Upped" that truck ($43,000 below) https://www.ebay.com/itm/283588909924

Haha! Thank you sir!

I don't know specifically about the soft parts in these boosters, but many manufacturers do have a recommended shelf life for elastomers or parts containing elastomers. I know some of the industrial manufacturers we represent at work have that lifespan set at 5 years +/-. Would this booster be OK? Probably just fine. I know my 35 year old booster was still working fine last year...I only replaced it because it was rusted to pieces externally. (I went with a reman unit from a local auto supply).

I still use a block heater all the time. They heat up pretty quick...you'd be surprised. Most people (myself included) have them set on a timer to come on an hour or two before you leave in the morning. I don't think anybody south of North Dakota or Minnesota would need to keep them on all night in the winter. If you look inside one of the cheap plastic coffee kettles, they have the same style element in them. That's basically all a block heater is.

That wiper motor looks wicked! I'm anxious to start cleaning up items like this to make my engine bay prettier. Well done.

I liked the engine too Gary! Burnouts are not really my thing, but this video was fun because it was a Bronco, and a Bullnose Bronco at that. Out of curiosity, did anybody catch the name of the "cheap" EFI system he installed on there?

Ahh...so it attaches to the door! That's cool! It would look silly on my truck, but neat on a 4x4. Nice find.

I only ever see it for a blip of a second as the page loads. It goes straight to the forum on both my iPhone and laptop PC. I use an icon link direct to the forum on both devices.

I think it's time for a new Bullnose truck picture...lol. I'm sure somebody else on here has a nice Bullnose pic they'd like to share? Gary I can't comment on the forum too much until I actually start using it after the changes. My forum usage is 99% on a PC, so any issues showing up on phones or iPads, etc are pretty much irrelevant to me. I'm all for improving everybody's experience, but I currently don't have any complaints with the format. I read the forum on my phone sometimes, but I don't post with the phone...not very often at least.

If the original 10" clutch disk is still in there, then yes, I'd upgrade to an 11"clutch. I like LUK and Sachs brands. I bought an LUK kit if I recall correctly. Buy the whole kit with the pressure plate, disk, pilot bearing, and alignment tool. Bought it on Rockauto too. I can check the number if you need to know. Should be the same kit for you truck afaik. I have a hydraulic clutch, so I can't offer any advice on inspecting the mechanical linkage...but you should probably check it all out. My '84 Flywheel had the holes for the 11" clutch, but I don't know if they all did. Maybe one of the other guys know?